SILENT WITNESS PART 2
by deetatarant
Summary: SORRY THIS WOULD BE CHAPTER TWO BUT THE WEB SITE WON'T PLAT BALL TO ADD A NEW CHAPTER. SO HAVE POSTED IT AS A NEW STORY...ANYONE ELSE HAVING TROUBLE ADDING NEW CHAPTERS?


**SILENT WITNESS PART 2**

**Pressing Issues**

Toshiko stood in the cue of her local newsagent, chocolate bar in one hand her purse in the other. It wasn't that Cadbury's Diary Milk was her favourite breakfast snack; she needed the caffeine, plain and simple. Last nights conversation with Jack had left her fretting and unable to sleep. She gazed about her eyes settling on the daily papers arranged on the rack beside her. Ianto's face was staring straight back at her from the front page of the 'Sun'. Tosh gawped at it for moment unable to quite believe what she was seeing and there it was again, on the front cover of the Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail. One of the headlines read, _"This man_ _buried a stranger in our daughter's coffin."_ The other was slightly more blunt, _"Torchwood Employee Hides Murder Victim in Girlfriend's Coffin."_

Tosh reached out and gathered up all three newspapers and paid for them along with her chocolate. She rushed out of the shop to her car praying that Ianto hadn't seen these yet. Ten minutes later she arrived at the Hub feeling harried and thoroughly upset, things could only go down hill from this point, she was sure.

Owen was already there when she arrived hunched over a mug of Ianto's special brew in deep conversation with Jack on the couch. Tosh dumped her bag on her desk and approached them.

"Jack?"

Both men looked up and smiled at her. Toshiko proffered the newspapers and Jack's smile instantly fell away when he saw them. He took them from Toshiko and unfolded them on the coffee table. Owen failed to hide his look of horror.

"Jesus Jack. He hasn't seen these yet has he?"

Jack shook his head. "He's still asleep in my bunk. I slipped him a sedative when we got back here early this morning." He was studying the Daily Mail.

"He's gonna lose it when he sees this." Owen commented.

Jack silently agreed.

The phone in his office started ringing and reluctantly Jack got up to answer it. Gwen came into the Hub as Jack disappeared into his office. She was breathless.

"You seen the papers?"

Tosh and Owen gestured to the pile on the table.

"It's been on Breakfast News too, BBC and ITV."

"Shit." Owen lurched to his feet. "Our lives are about to become ten shades of misery over this."

Tosh glared at him. "How do you think Ianto feels right about now?"

Owen sighed.

Gwen glanced between the two of them. "Look I know Canary Wharf was a big deal, but it's not that bad is it?"

Both Tosh and Owen froze, staring at her in disbelief.

"Ok maybe it was. Perhaps you should show me the file. I presume there is one?"

Owen seemed to regain his composure first. "Yeah, there is one. It mostly contains salvaged CCTV footage from T1, film footage that Susie took when we went there to help with the rescue and clean up and filmed interviews with those that survived. It's not pretty but it'll give you the idea about what happened."

"Ianto was one of the survivors then?"

"You know he was."

"Then why is the news full of stories about him body swapping corpses for Lisa's funeral, I thought Jack said this was an enquiry into the activities of Yvonne Hartman and the higher ranking Torchwood officers?"

Tosh folded her arms. "Perhaps they just want some one to blame. Lisa's family that is. They are the ones funding all the legal costs, maybe all they want is someone to pay for Lisa's death."

Gwen was shaking her head. "According to the news this morning they all seem to think that she is still alive and being held captive by Ianto and Torchwood."

"You are joking?"

Gwen shook her head.

Owen stepped past her and went to her computer terminal; he brought up the appropriate file for her to study. Gwen joined him at her desk and her mobile started to ring. Gwen pulled it out of her bag and flipped it open. It was PC Andy.

"Hi Andy."

"_Hey, Gwen. Thought I'd give you a heads up. Looks like a warrant has been issued for the arrest of your colleague Ianto Jones. I've seen all the stuff on the news. I know you lot are all a bit weird but your Ianto doesn't seem the type to do those things. I mean Kidnap and murder? No way!…Anyway look I've got to go. Be careful eh?"_ He hung up.

Gwen held her phone away from her ear and gaped at it.

"Shit. Where's Ianto?"

"Jack's bunk. Why?"

She got up to her feet and ran to Jack's office. She halted when she realised that he was on the phone and yelling down it at that. Gwen waited in the doorway for Jack to end the call, which resulted in the phone being unplugged from the wall by a yank on the cable.

"Jack?"

He sank down into his chair and smiled weakly at her.

"Please tell me you are here to offer me coffee?"

Gwen looked apologetic. "The police have issued a warrant for Ianto's arrest on charges of murder and kidnapping."

"Yeah, I just heard. That was Swanson; they've tried Ianto at his flat. I told them I didn't know where he was and that I wouldn't tell them if I did. I've told him to stay here for the time being."

"What are you going to do? We can't hide him indefinitely."

Jack heaved out a sigh. "I can if I have to. I am not having him caught in the middle of a witch-hunt. I'm going to talk to the Home Secretary and try to get the warrant cancelled…"

The alarms went off.

"Shit! Now what?"

Jack and Gwen piled out of his office into the Hub. Tosh was working her keyboard.

"We've got rift activity, Barry Docks. It's big spike Jack something may have come through."

"Right, Tosh, Owen, Gwen. Go check it out. Keep an eye on each other and don't take the SUV, its too easily recognised. Get what kit you need and take the van instead. Go check it out and come straight back. If there's any press out there do not engage them."

Owen was already grabbing a stack of gear. "What you think there will be?"

"I'm hoping not, but journalists have a habit of being too resourceful for my liking. I'm going to make some calls to UNIT and get us some back up; I think we may need it. Just watch yourselves out there."

The others all offered reassuring smiles.

"Any news hound comes near me and I'll punch their lights out."

"That probably won't help our case much Owen, but I'd be right in line behind you." Gwen was saying as they left.

Jack stood there in the wake of their departure with a worried frown on his face.

**The Silent Witness**

_Her body was heavy, so heavy in fact he struggled to lift it with the care and reverence that in life she deserved. In any life but this one at least. Ianto had lifted her broken remains from the bloodied concrete floor, his body aching with his tears that still continued to fall relentlessly. The basement was empty of his colleagues now. Jack had sent them away and before turning his own back had coldly instructed Ianto to clean up the mess. Ianto was no longer certain how long ago that was. The first thing he had done was carry Annie up the stairs and place her on a tray in the morgue. Having wrapped her in a body bag he filled out the appropriate paperwork and left it on Owen's desk ready for the autopsy. He closed the draw on Annie's short life with sobs of guilt. He went back down the dank stairs and corridors and began to dismantle the Cyber hardware. Lisa's remains still lying on the floor. Ianto had been unable to look at her, part of him hated her, was repulsed by what had been left of her. The rest of him loved her so much that he knew he was breaking under the weight of it. It wasn't long before he was on his knees at her side dry heaving his guts up through bitter tears, feeling dead inside. So he lifted her and with great difficulty carried her to the morgue and laid her out on another metal tray. He had promised to make her human again and that was what he was going to do._

_Jack and Toshiko had remained in the Hub cleaning up the damage caused by Lisa's rampage through their control area. Tosh had kept the CCTV monitors on at her terminal as she finalised some work. She looked up from her keyboard and sucked in a horrified gasp at what she saw._

"_Jack. Come see this."_

_Jack abandoned his attempt to make coffee and joined her. He watched the screen as Ianto worked in the morgue._

"_What's he doing?"_

_Jack rested a hand on Tosh's shoulder. "Finishing what he started."_

"_Jack?"_

"_Trying to make her human again."_

_Tosh looked up at him. "Should we…..?"_

_Jack shook his head. "Leave him, he needs to do this. Let him be."_

_Tosh returned her attention to the screen and watched in morbid fascination as Ianto carefully removed the cybernetic components from Lisa's dead body. Once done he lovingly wrapped her in a winding sheet and kissed her face before covering and wrapping her in a body bag._

_Ianto slid the draw shut and wiped at the tears on his cheeks. He promised himself never to cry again, never to speak of this again, never to love again and never to hope again. Ianto always kept his promises. Like Lisa he would become a silent witness to what she had become because he never wanted to believe that she had lost her humanity and if any one ever asked, he'd tell them that she fell at Canary Wharf, bravely fighting the monsters that had come as ghosts._

Ianto lurched into wakefulness with a whimper. He curled into the quilt on Jack's bunk and stared at the wall, feeling like his world had ended all over again.


End file.
